Eric Schmidt spent nearly a decade atop Google as its CEO, steering the tech giant from its early days as a public company into one of the world’s most valuable businesses.
But the job wasn’t always about launching the next Gmail or Google Maps. Instead, much of Schmidt’s time was actually spent behind the conference room table coordinating people and putting out fires across the organization.
“I used to tell people my job is to sit in meetings 12 hours a day, five days a week, and I work on the weekend, too,” Schmidt said in conversation with Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management. “I would sit in meetings 12 hours a day—person, person, person, reason, narrative, so forth and so on.”
That extended his workweek to roughly 63 hours, Schmidt estimated. But the 71-year-old now believes AI can increasingly handle tasks that once required hours of meetings and conversations across departments.
“Much of that coordination tax can be eliminated by these AI platforms for business,” he said.
Large companies have ‘thousands’ of unnecessary workers because of AI, according to Schmidt
Schmidt pointed to an unnamed friend who recently laid off 20% of his workforce. Among those let go, he said, were the employees responsible for planning, coordinating and moving information around the business—the “glue people” who helped keep the organization running behind the scenes.
Schmidt expects that kind of workforce reduction to become more common as AI makes businesses more efficient.
“Let’s say you’re running a 10,000-person company, my guess is you’ve got a couple of thousand people who you don’t need,” Schmidt said. “And you better figure out a way to legally and humanely transition them, retire them out, or what have you. You just don’t need them.”
Schmidt, who has an estimated net worth of $66 billion, is expected to be one of the greater beneficiaries of the AI boom. It was revealed this week that he owns roughly a 1% stake in Anthropic, which could translate into a $20 billion windfall if the AI giant goes public at its $2 trillion target.
Schmidt says Gen Z need to embrace AI—or risk falling behind
Despite his prediction that AI could make thousands of existing jobs unnecessary, Schmidt also sees opportunities for workers who can adapt to the technology—and help build what comes next.
“You’re going to need the great inventors, the great salespeople, because it’s a human deal,” Schmidt said. “You’re going to need some great leaders. And you’re going to need people to talk to the government.”
Speaking to graduates at the University of Arizona earlier this year, Schmidt urged young people not to resist AI—but rather find a way to be part of those building it. His advice came even as some students booed him when he began discussing the technology.
“Whatever path you choose, AI will become part of how work is done,” he told graduates, encouraging them to use the technology to tackle problems that once seemed out of reach.
“When someone offers you a seat on the rocket ship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on,” Schmidt added. “Graduates, the rocket ship is here.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
